Employment in Construction Declined Yet Increases

In the span of a month, from February until March, the construction industry lost about 7,000 jobs. And, while there was decline, the total number of available construction jobs was still higher than it was in the previous year, which means that even with a decline, the construction industry is doing better than it did just one year ago. It is believed that the construction industry has been lagging due to the lack of funding for certain construction projects, particularly highway construction.

A chief economist, Ken Simonson, said that while there was a decline in employment for those in the construction industry, for seven months in a row, the number of construction jobs has been higher than it was during the same seven months just the year before. Simonson also points out that the unemployment rate for the industry has been lowering even though construction jobs are not being created, which means that many people might be leaving the construction industry because there is simply no work available for them.

There are other industries that are currently booming. Such industries include manufacturing and distribution sectors. Even private hospitals are starting to see an improvement in available jobs and positions. Meanwhile, some sectors, aside from construction, are still suffering. Some of those sectors include office and retail industries.

For the month of March in 2012, the unemployment rate for construction was at 17.2 percent, which is actually significantly higher than the unemployment rate for the entire United States as a whole. The construction industry has seen improvements within the past year. In March of 2011, the unemployment rate was at an extremely high 20 percent and it was even higher the previous year, at about 24.9 percent. The unemployment rates for the industry have dropped, which can be good news but at the same time, a lot of construction firms have not been doing much hiring since things are still staggering.

It is believed that construction employment will not get better until more funding is put out for all of the different construction projects, especially for the larger construction projects, which includes the federal highway projects. Right now, construction workers are waiting on Congress to pass a bill for funding of these projects because that would put more construction workers back to work, doing what they need to do to make a living. With a lack of funding, too many constructions are out of work or are forced to retire early since they are unable to find any available work.